Dogecoin is not the most valuable cryptocurrency (that would be Bitcoin) or the one with a fast-growing financial sector growing on top of it (that would be Ethereum), but it certainly punches above its weight when it comes to attention from enthusiasts and the general public. Named for the adorable Shiba-Inu meme, Dogecoin has become something like the fast of the latest burst of enthusiasm for cryptocurrency.
While its value bounces up and down constantly, getting namechecked by celebrities like Elon Musk and Snoop Dogg, it is not only being adopted as meme-fodder and comedy material but also by some businesses as a means of payment.
Related: Understanding the different types of cryptocurrency
Dogecoin basics
Dogecoin, as of Sept. 21, is worth almost $28 billion and more than $1 billion of it is traded every day. While this may seem like a lot (and enough to put it in the cryptocurrency top ten according to CoinMarketCap), it’s still relatively minor compared to Bitcoin ($810 billion, $43 billion in daily volume) or Ethereum ($356 billion, $26 billion). And because so much of the currency has been “minted,” the per Doge value is “low” — about 21 cents with around 131 billion coins.
What’s the history of Dogecoin
Jackson Palmer created Dogecoin in 2013 as both a reference to the then-popular meme and to what was then seen as an explosion of interest in Bitcoin. In early 2018, during another huge runup in crypto prices, Dogecoin’s market cap got to over $1 billion, which may have been seen as extreme at the time (it would fall back down to around $400 million), but was nothing compared to what was coming. Between April 8 and May 8 of this year, Dogecoin’s market cap rose from around $8 billion to almost $95 billion, before settling at around $23 billion.
While traders can buy and sell Dogecoin like any cryptocurrency on mainstream exchanges like Coinbase, it does not have the buzzing hive of developer activity and use in businesses that others do. That’s slowly starting to change.
More than 240,000 people have signed a Change.org petition aimed at getting Amazon to start accepting the coin. While that request hasn’t gotten much traction, there are some businesses that have decided to start accepting it as a means of payment.
If you’re interested in spending your DOGE rather than trying to HODL, these are some of the businesses that accept Dogecoin.
Who accepts Dogecoin in 2021?
1. The Dallas Mavericks
The NBA basketball team owned by tech billionaire, occasional crypto investor, and Shark Tank host Mark Cuban is not afraid of the occasional stunt to get attention. In March, the basketball team said in an official statement that it would be accepting Dogecoin for both tickets and merchandise. In his inimitable fashion, Cuban explained the reasoning for the decision:
“The Mavericks have decided to accept Dogecoin as payment for Mavs tickets and merchandise for one very important, earth-shattering reason – because we can! Because we can, we have chosen to do so. We have chosen to do so because sometimes in business you have to do things that are fun, engaging and hopefully generate a lot of PR. So we will take Dogecoin, today, tomorrow and possibly forever more. For those of you who would like to learn more about Dogecoin, we strongly encourage you to talk to your teenagers who are on TikTok and ask them about it. They will be able to explain it all to you”.
Cuban has also disclosed an investment in Dogecoin and promoted the cryptocurrency as akin to a lottery ticket.
2. AirBaltic
Around the same time the Mavericks said they would begin accepting Dogecoin as payment, the European airline AirBaltic made a similar announcement.
“As an innovative airline, we always strive to search for ways to improve the customer experience starting from the booking process. Over the years around 1000 clients have used the payment option, which may not seem like a lot, but still offers passengers a unique payment option hard to find elsewhere,” the airline CEO Martin Gauss said in a statement.
AirBaltic is majority-owned by the Latvian state, adding an official level of approval to a cryptocurrency that, as its founder has said whenever anyone would ask, is meant to be a joke.
3. Newegg
The electronics online retailer said in April that it would start accepting Dogecoin. “We’re committed to making it easy for our customers to shop however works best for them, and that means letting them complete transactions with the payment method that suits them best. To that end, we’re happy to give Dogecoin fans an easy way to shop online for tech,” a Newegg executive said in a statement.
4. The Kessler Collection
The Kessler Collection owns several luxury hotels throughout the United States. In March, the company said it would “accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin.” The company specifically pointed to cryptocurrencies hitting “an all-time high” as a justification for the expansion of the number of currencies they would accept.
Which cryptos do they accept?
1. Newegg
- Bitcoin: Yes
- Dogecoin: Yes
- Ethereum: Yes
- Tether: No
- Bitcoin Cash: Yes
2. Dallas Mavericks
- Bitcoin: Yes
- Dogecoin: Yes
- Ethereum: No
- Tether: No
- Bitcoin Cash: No
3. The Kessler Collection
- Bitcoin: Yes
- Dogecoin: Yes
- Ethereum: Yes
- Tether: No
- Bitcoin Cash: no
4. AirBaltic
- Bitcoin: Yes
- Dogecoin: Yes
- Ethereum: Yes
- Tether: No
- Bitcoin Cash: Yes
The takeaway
While merchants have not begun accepting any types of cryptocurrencies — let alone Dogecoin — en masse, a handful of companies have begun accepting the meme coin. Given its volatility, however, it can be hard to know whether using Dogecoin to make purchases will end up saving or costing the buyer money.
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This article originally appeared on SoFi.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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